Hesiod - Works and Days

02.28.11 Women as Other - Alterity based on gender deeply rooted in society - Masculinity and Femininity - mutually defining terms - Sex in the context of Male and Female anatomical differences o Physis = mutual differences o Relatively unimportant ~ Whats important is the significance given by our society - Society takes in these physiological aspects differences and adds in these characteristics - Gender social facts that revolve around Male and Female o Nomos = cultural significance conventions that define one as Male or Female o E.g., manly, demure, proud, caring, etc. - Bouvoir: One is not born a woman, one becomes a woman. o Fully a woman once you take in attributes of female gender - To the Greeks, Gender is a difference and hierarchy - One extant female Greek author Sappho Hesiods Works and Days - Woman artificial, created by gods her creation says something about Man - Man has always been there, never created - Woman = affliction - Woman tied in with sacrifice and fire both benevolent and evil, needed for survival and what sets us apart from gods